Now
faded from
living memories but deserving to be recorded in the history of opera in
Colorado are the lives of six singers, born in the 19th century, who
enjoyed fame locally,
nationally or even internationally in the years prior to World War I.
From newspaper accounts of the time, we can grasp at least some essence
of their lives and careers.

***************

Elizabeth Young was born in Denver on October 9, 1890, and grew
up int the family home at 244 West Colfax Avenue, the present day corner
of Colfax and Cherokee, where the Denver City and County Buildings now
stand. Maxey Tabor, the son of Horace and Augusta Tabor, and his wife
and daughter, Persis, lived across the street.

Elizabeth's father, Francis (Frank) Young, came to Colorado at age 21 in
1865, walking the entire 672 miles, in the company of three other young
men. from the Missouri River to Denver. After re-stocking in Denver he
went directly to Central City to work the gold diggings. His future
wife, Caroline Sims, came out to Central City in her mid-twenties and
taught at the Gilpin County Schoolhouse, which now houses the Gilpin
County Historical Society. Soon after their marriage, the Youngs took a
trip to Chicago, where they saw a performance of Balfe's The Bohemian Girl,
one of the most popular light operas of the time. This experience
inspired them to resolve to stage their own version of the opera in
Central City. That town was blessed with an unusual amount of musical
talent and Welsh miners with fine voices. Caroline young sang the
contralto role and Frank Young was the leading tenor. He also acted as
impresario, stage manager and publicist. The performance took place in
the Belvidere Theatre,
then Central City's only entertainment Hall (which still stands today),
on April 18 and 19, 1877. The idea of an opera house for Central City,
already hatched, was crucial to bringing the concept to fruition and
thus the Central City Opera House was built the following year.

Elizabeth attend the private Wolcott School in Denver, graduating in
1909, and studied voice with her Aunt Hattie, who had trained in Italy
with Giovanni Battista Lamperti. She then spent two years at Bennett
College in upstate New York. Elizabeth became a well-regarded singer,
performing in churches, on the Broadway Theater stage and the theatre at
Elitch's Gardens. With the Bosetti Grand Opera Company, at the
Municipal Auditorium, in 1916 she was Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and in 1917 was Filina in Mignon.

Elizabeth died on October 1, 1967, eight days shy of her seventy-seventh birthday. A memoir of her childhood, On Colfax Avenue, A Victorian Childhood, was published in 2004 by the Colorado Historical Society.

***************

Caroline Oliver came to America from Sweden, at age 19
married a Colorado rancher much her senior, studied singing in New York
and Paris, changed her name to Marguerite Starrell and became a
notable international opera singer. This is her story as chronicled in
newspapers of the day.

The Daily News, Denver, 20 Feb 1909: "Success in one of
its most dazzling forms has come to Caroline Skelton, formerly of
Colorado, but now one of the bright particular stars in the Parisian
musical firmament. She has been engaged at the Grand Opera in Paris,
and will make her debut some time this spring in Thais. Known
in
Europe under her stage name Marguerite Starelle (sic), this
young
Colorado woman in a few years has had a most remarkable career. She has
developed one of the highest soprano voices in the world, reaching
clearly and with power the C above high C. But a few years ago she was
living on a ranch near Denver, helping her husband in a rather unequal
struggle with the world. Since she went abroad she has studied
unremittingly and the present high position she has achieved she owes
as much to her pluck and persistence as to her wonderful voice... Last
spring she enjoyed a sensational triumph in her appearance as Mimi in La
Boheme at Versailles... Less than ten years ago... she went to New
York, where she became the pupil of Isador Luckstone... She spent four
years in New York, and when she went to Paris three years ago she did
not even know the French language... It is understood that Hammerstein
has been desirous of adding the songbird from Colorado to the tuneful
aggregation which makes up his grand Italian Opera company."

Rocky Mountain News, Denver, 26 Apr 1908: "Matters were
not well with the Skeltons directly after they married-- that is, in a
material way. Mr. Skelton proposed they go up into the mining
district, at the head of Bear Creek canon, and try their
fortune... The Skeltons worked in their claim all that winter,
and in that way earned the first money, which enabled her to start her
musical studies... [After they regained the ranch, they sold 125
horses] and Caroline bought a fine piano, but most of the money
went to fighting legal battles, and it looked as though the contest
would last for years, as it has. 'Well,' said the plucky young woman
during those dark days, 'I can hum a little and I'll just study hard
and sing us both out of our troubles.' She has."

New
York Times, 26 Sep 1909: "The identity of the young opera singer
whose beauty and surpassing voice have won the admiration of Paris and
all Europe for more than a year has finally been solved. Marguerite
Starrel (sic) is Mrs. Boyd Skelton, wife of a former ranchman near
Littleton, and now a Denver contractor. All that is known of her in
Paris is that she is a recently discovered singing genius who came from
somewhere out of the great West of America and that she is the
protégé
of Mrs. Walter S. Cheesman, Mrs. O. E. Lefevere, Mrs. William G. Evans,
wives of millionaires, and other prominent Denver women. Before her
marriage Mrs. Skelton was Caroline Oliver...." Ibid., 2 Jan
1912: "Few New Year concerts and entertainments in the past have
equaled
the one given today in the chapel of the County Jail by members of the
Chicago Grand Opera Company... Miss Starrell sang old
English songs that brought tears to the eyes of of many
prisoners." Ibid.,
3 Mar
1912: "The last series of Winter musicals took place on Friday evening
at the Country Club [in Lakewood]. The programme submitted was of a
very high musical standard, and there were more than the usual numbers
of subscribers in attendance. The soloists were Mlle. Marguerite
Starrell, soprano of the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Opera,
and William Earl Cartwright, baritone with Mrs. W. S. Nelson, pianist."
Ibid., 10 Nov 1912: "The Volpe Symphony Orchestra... will
begin
a week's tour tomorrow in Pennsylvania. The soloists will be Marguerite
Starell (sic), soprano, of the Philadelphia-Chicago Opera
Company..."

Record
Journal of Douglas County (Castle
Rock), 8 Sep 1916: "Boyington Skelton, wealthy and aged rancher,
has filed for divorce from Mrs. Marguerite Starelle (sic)
Skelton, the
young opera singer, who has been absent from her husband for ten years.
Mrs. Skelton now is in Paris, France... Mrs. Skelton came to Denver
from Sweden and took work in the home of Mr. Skelton as housemaid. He
was wealthy and she was poor. He heard her singing about the house and
realized that she had a wonderful voice. He made her his wife, and sent
her abroad to have her voice trained. She succeeded from the start. She
wished to rival Melba and other great opera singers and has, in a
measure, done so.
After her musical education had been finished under [Jean] De
Reszke in Paris, Mrs. Skelton sang in the National
Theater of that
city, and later with the Metropolitan Grand Opera Company in New York.
but while his wife was spending her husband's money in completing her
education, he was having trouble at home. He engaged in litigation over
his ranch near Littleton, which had been left to him by his mother, who
was said to be the first white woman to settle the upper Platte. His
wife came to his aid and furnished money from her salary to aid him. He
finally won the suit. Mrs. Skelton then returned to the stage and sang
in all of the large American and European cities. That was ten years
ago. He waited for her return but the lure of her career kept her away.
Desertion for more than one year is the only charge made in the
complaint. They were married August 14, 1897." Littleton
Independent, 15 Dec 1916: "Boyington Skelton, of Denver, former
Arapahoe county citizen and owner of the beautiful Skelton ranch north
of Littleton, was granted a divorce in Denver last Saturday from his
wife, Carolina Skelton [Marguerite Starell]. Mrs. Skelton,
during the
past few years, has gained fame as a grand opera singer in Paris,
France, and other attractions soon parted the couple from home ties,
which finally resulted in a divorce. Mrs. Skelton is at present in
Paris. She did not contest the suit. Fairplay Flume, 15 Dec
1916: An unusual romance came to an end in Denver when District Judge
Perry granted a divorce to Boyington Skelton, an Arapahoe county
ranchman and contractor, from Marguerite Starells (sic), on the
technical ground of desertion. Mrs. Skelton is now a grand opera singer
in Paris."

The Miami News, 25 Jan 1926: "Marguerite Starell
(sic), operatic
and concert soprano, formerly prima donna of the Chicago Opera Co....
was born in Stockholm. She studied with great masters in Europe and in
this country, particularly with Isidore Luckstone in New York. She made
her debut at a gala performance of La Bohème in the
Versailles Opera,
later going to Chicago. She sang for a number of seasons at the
Municipal Opera house in Monte Carlo, and last year was under the
direction of Maestro Reynald Hahn at the Cannes Opera. Feeling the need
for an extended rest, Mme. Starell returned to this country for a visit
with her brothers and sisters. She is spending several weeks in Miami.
Next season she will be heard at the Stockholm Opera."

Marguerite Starrell died
in January 1970 in Greenwich, Connecticut, at 92 years of age.
Presumably an obituary was not published, for a search of newspapers in
the area and of that time yielded none. Greatness is often and soon
forgotten.

(Photo courtesy of Shana Boulton of Burlington, IA)

***************

Excerpts from
articles in the Aspen
Weekly
Times about Lottie B. Wustum, a contralto: Apr 22, 1882:
"Last Saturday evening the beautiful hall of
Corkhill's opera house contained an audience which for numbers and
enthusiasm has never before been gathered in Aspen, the occasion being
the concert given by Mrs, Wustum, assisted by several ladies and
gentlemen in vocal and instrumental music and recitations." (Corkhill's
Opera House was built in 1881 and was succeeded by the Wheeler
Opera House in 1889.) Nov 5, 1883: "Mrs. Lottie Wustum,
the well known songstress, returned to Aspen on Friday evening, in
answer to a dispatch received while in Louisville, Kentucky, stating
that her mother was very low and that she must return immediately if
she wished to see her again. Since last July she has been traveling
with the Chicago Ideal Opera Company, rendering the principal operettas
in the more important cities in the western states and in Texas as far
down as Galveston, Mrs. Wustum taking the principal contralto parts.
The Chicago Ideal Opera Company... was formerly the Chicago Church
Choir Co. and is composed of the society young ladies and gentlemen of
Chicago." (The Chicago Ideal Opera Co. performed at the Tabor Grand in
Denver in December, 1883. The company later was called The
Bostonians.) Nov 5,
1883: "Mrs. Wustum was greeted with the old-time
enthusiasm of last year, and we will say that we never enjoyed music
more, her musical education, wonderful compass and control of voice,
are beyond question the accomplishments of a great singer." Sep 6,
1884: "Mrs. Lottie B. Wustum has left camp to join her troup of
singers at Kansas City. She will travel all winter."

***************

Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn, the Mayor's wife,
and her troupe of ladies in The Music Man, entertained the
citizens of River City with Delsartean acting-- popular among American
women of
the time, characterized by assuming attitudes or artistic poses and
stylized dances. Colorado had a noted Delsartean, Susa Carpenter
of Grand Junction, who was hailed in 1896 by the Silverton
Standard as "Colorado's greatest impersonator and Delsartean
artist." Susa, the daughter of W. T. Carpenter, president of the Little
Book Cliff Railway, performed to great acclaim in the 1890s and
1900s in many of the cities of the state. One of her performances in
Telluride included "a very difficult production, 'An English Railway
Station,' which gave full play
to her powers of mimicry and imitation." "In 'Our Hir'd Girl,' she
essayed a juvenilistic role to which she was compelled to respond to a
hearty encore." "Her graceful motions were perfect harmony and rhythm
exemplified..." The Colorado Springs Gazette report of Ms.
Carpenter's performance at the opera house in 1898 enthused that "Her
instant
transitions from tragedy to comedy, from mirthfulness to the pathetic,
with gesture and facial expression that told more than half, were
overwhelming testimony to the versatility of this young actress."

In 1900 Susa Carpenter married M. M. Detch of Ouray, a court
stenographer. After but a few years, the couple divorced, reportedly
due to inadequate support by Detch. Then, serendipitously, Detch struck
it rich in 1906 with a mining claim in Goldfield.

Susa continued in Delsartism but also impressively added singing to her
repertoire, making appearances throughout the state, including the
Dickens Opera House in Longmont in 1908 and in the newly completed
Denver Auditorium in July of that year, where she performed for the
Democratic National Convention. Susa was described in the Breckenridge
Bulletin in 1908 as "a dramatic soprano with a fine voice, well
cultivated. Her studies and career abroad have met with success and she
is shortly to return to Rome, where she is under contract with the
National Italian Theater to appear in grand opera."

***************

Asa F. Middaugh, from Erie, Pennsylvania, walked from St. Joseph,
Missouri, to Denver in 1860. He began a long and successful business
career by mining and hauling coal to Denver. The next year, Asa
homesteaded 160 acres, on which he later built a residence for his
family, and engaged in stock raising and freighting between Denver and
Missouri River points. For 8 years, beginning in 1866, he was a
merchant in Elizabethtown and Cimarron, NM, and also a
banker in Cimarron. In 1875 he opened a mercantile store in Del Norte,
where in 1882 he also opened the Bank of Del Norte. Additionally, Asa
acquired a horse ranch and several farms in the San Luis Valley. While
in Cimarron he had married Amelie Siever, born in St. Louis, and from
this union were born five children, among them Florence Siever
Middaugh, born in Del Norte in 1884.

In 1905 Florence Middaugh was sent to New York for voice training,
where she studied for 4 years with Dennis Meaghan. Florence and her
mother came from Denver to spend the month of August, 1906, in Del
Norte, and again spent part of the summer of 1909 there. When she gave
a recital at Central Christian Church in Denver in September, 1909,
with pianist Evelyn Crawford and cellist Fred J. Houseley, Florence was
described as having "one of the greatest contralto voices in the world"
with "a voice notable for its range and quality of tone." In October,
the Red Men Opera House in Durango was filled by an appreciative
audience where, "arrayed in robes of becoming color and luster, the
singer [Florence], by her superb carriage and figure, captivated the
audience at once and never for a moment did they feel other than
mesmerized. Miss Florence has a wonderful contralto voice and sings
with such ease and grace that it is hard to explain to those who were
absent."

In November, 1909
Florence went to Paris to study with the famous Jean De Reszke.
In late 1911 it was reported that she had returned to Colorado from
California, where she had suffered from ill health for several months.
In the summer of 1912 Florence went once a week to Alamosa to give
vocal instruction at the San Luis Hotel. Florence was listed as a music
teacher at the Western Institute of Music in a 1913 Denver directory.
In August, 1915, she presented a concert, under the auspices of the
Kings' Daughters at the Methodist Church in Del Norte where she "sang
in her usual pleasing way, her voice having gained in its power and
sweetness." Later in the week Florence also sang in Monte Vista. At the
time of the 1920 census Florence Middaugh was living in Denver. She
sang a song at a concert in the Hollywood Bowl in California on April
15, 1920. Florence died at the age of 93 in Los Angeles in 1977.

***************

The Fort Collins Courier for November 14, 1889 carried this notice:
"Vocal lessons, private and class, given by Miss Agnes Everist,
late of the Royal Italian Opera, Royal Albert Hall and St. James' Hall
concerts, London, England. For terms, address C. Golding-Dwyre, Fort
Collins." Thus, was announced the arrival of Miss Everist, who became a
much-admired teacher and singer in the Fort Collins community. One of
its churches was a frequent beneficiary of her vocalizations, as
exemplified by the following from the Fort Collins newspaper in 1890:
"Miss Agnes Everist, assisted by a number of leading vocalists in the
city, will on the 7th proximo give a grand popular musical
entertainment, at the opera house in this city, the proceeds to be
devoted to defraying the expenses of restoring the steeple of the
Presbyterian church." An 1894 newspaper item announced "There will be
an entertainment in the opera house on Friday, August 17, given by Miss
Agnes Everist and Mr. Buxton Whittingham. The program, which promises
to be highly entertaining, will consist of a short concert and a couple
of farces." After residing in Fort Collins, Miss Everist, with her two
sisters, moved to Santa Monica, CA, where she spent her remaining years.

***************

Marion Kingsbury was born in Gunnison in 1886, the same
year her step-brother was killed by being thrown by a horse and dragged
by his foot. Marion and her parents, Lemuel and Harriet Kingsbury,
relocated to Denver about 1892. For several years starting in 1898,
Lemuel spent the warmer months in the Breckenridge area supervising
placer
gold mines and then wintering in Denver or other cities. Sometime
around 1900, Marion went to New York to study singing. A local paper
reported in 1902 that she "is a lovely contralto singer and is studying
for the grand opera under one of the finest instructors, Madam
Galloway..." A year later, when Marion was 17, the paper noted that she
was "a popular New York opera singer." She had been singing with a
light-opera company there.

In 1904 Marion made a debut recital at the Waldorf-Astoria and was on
the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in 1906, 1907, and 1908, singing
comprimario roles. In 1907 mezzo-soprano Marion Kingsbury was a member
of Heinrich Conried's company for a tour of Europe (the Conried
Metropolitan Opera Company, formed in 1903, was then the resident
company at the Met). Marion returned to the United States for a few
years but was back in Germany by 1912, singing, among other
engagements, Nancy in Flotow's Martha at the Royal Theater at
Essen and, in the following year, at the opera house in Bochum.

The outbreak of World War I ended Marion's career in Germany. In early
1916 she became a staunch supporter of the Organization of American
Women for Strict Neutrality. Marion came back to Breckenridge in the
summer of that year, began teaching voice and was regularly a soloist
in the Methodist Church. Shortly thereafter, she relocated to Leadville
and established a voice studio and in the fall opened a music store at
108 E. 5th Street. She continued to return to Breckenridge to instruct
voice students and present musical programs. In 1917 Marion directed
The Columbine Harmony Club in The Pirates of Penzance, with
herself in the leading role. She sang for various organizations in
Leadville and gave concerts at the Elk's Opera House (formerly the
Tabor Opera House), and she concertized in several other cities,
including Kokomo, Buena Vista, and Canon City. During the 1918 flu
epidemic she served ably as a visiting home nurse. Her first voice
studio was located in the Chicago Block building on East Fifth Street.
By 1920 she had a
studio and music accessories store at 713 Harrison Avenue, an address
in the Tabor Grand Hotel.

In January 1921 Marion Kingsbury attended a two-day sales conference for
the representatives of the Knight-Campbell Music Co at the company
headquarters in Denver. Also in 1921, Marion Kingsbury, in the company
of two gentlemen, visited
Breckenridge to examine placer claims owned by her late father. This is
the last record of Marion we have been able to find. At about this time
she left Leadville. Most curiously, despite thorough searching of
records, nothing has been found to reveal what happened to her. Her
father, known by the honorific title of Colonel Kingsbury, due to his
valorous service in the Union Army during the Civil War, died in 1921
and is interred in Valley Brook Cemetery in Breckenridge. Lemuel's
widow, Harriet, was a resident in Denver in 1925 and 1926, but we have
been unable to discover her life thereafter.